You are not far from the kingdom of God

 

 Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, "Which is the first commandment of all?"  Jesus answered him, "The first of all the commandments is:  'Hear, O Israel, the LORD is our God, the LORD is one.  And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.'  This is the first commandment.  And the second, like it, is this:  'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'  There is no other commandment greater than these."  So the scribe said to Him, "Well said, Teacher.  You have spoken the truth, for there is one God, and there is no other but He.  And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices."  Now when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, He said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God."  But after that no one dared question Him.

 

- Mark 12:28-34 

 

Yesterday we read that the religious leaders in Jerusalem sent to Jesus some of the Pharisees and the Herodians, to catch Him in His words.  When they had come, they said to Him, "Teacher, we know that You are true, and care about no one; for You do not regard the person of men, but teach the way of God in truth.  Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?  Shall we pay, or shall we not pay?"  But He, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, "Why do you test Me?  Bring Me a denarius that I may see it."  So they brought it.  And He said to them, "Whose image and inscription is this?"  They said to Him, "Caesar's."  And Jesus answered and said to them, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's."  And they marveled at Him. Then some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him; and they asked Him, saying:  "Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man's brother dies, and leaves his wife behind, and leaves no children, his brother should take his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.  Now there were seven brothers.  The first took a wife; and dying, he left no offspring.  And the second took her, and he died; nor did he leave any offspring.  And the third likewise.  So the seven had her and left no offspring.  Last of all the woman died also.  Therefore, in the resurrection, when they rise, whose wife will she be?  For all seven had her as wife."  Jesus answered and said to them, "Are you not therefore mistaken, because you do not know the Scriptures nor the power of God?  For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.  But concerning the dead, that they rise, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the burning bush passage, how God spoke to him, saying, "I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'?  He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living.  You are therefore greatly mistaken."

 

 Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, "Which is the first commandment of all?"  Jesus answered him, "The first of all the commandments is:  'Hear, O Israel, the LORD is our God, the LORD is one.  And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.'  This is the first commandment.  And the second, like it, is this:  'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'  There is no other commandment greater than these."  So the scribe said to Him, "Well said, Teacher.  You have spoken the truth, for there is one God, and there is no other but He.  And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices."  Now when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, He said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God."  But after that no one dared question Him.  My study Bible says that, in response to one of the scribes, Jesus is quoting Deuteronomy 6:4-5, which is the greatest Jewish confession of faith.  It is called the shema' (meaning "hear," from the first word of the confession).  He then quotes from Leviticus 19:18, thereby combining what is already present in the Old Testament to create a new understanding.  My study Bible says this new understanding declares love of neighbor to be an expression of love of God.    The Pharisees, it says, had found 613 commandments in the Scriptures and they constantly debated which was central, thus this question appears to be something with which they'd always be preoccupied.  Jesus summarizes the Law with these two.  My study Bible makes clear that the latter commandment means that we're called to love others as of the same nature as ourselves, created in God's image and likeness as are we.  It says that as the Fathers and Mothers of the Church have taught, we find our true selves in loving our neighbor. 

How can we find our true selves in loving our neighbor?  One thing is clear, if we take a look at Christ's parable of judgment, the one of the Sheep and the Goats (Matthew 25:31-46), we read that the supreme rule is one of active compassion.  It is in this sense that we can see, defined for us, what it looks like when we love neighbor as ourselves.  In that parable Jesus says that the sheep on His right are the ones who made acts of compassion for Himself.   When He's asked when these acts occurred, He says, "Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me."  The same is true in the negative for the goats, who failed to do those acts, to whom Jesus says, "Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to Me." Of course, in Mark's Gospel, we've already read Jesus' teaching to the disciples, "Whoever receives one of these little children in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me, receives not Me but Him who sent Me."  This comes in response to the disciples' disputing who would be the greatest among them. See Mark 9:33-37.  Each of these examples given to us teaches us how Jesus views the inter-relatedness implicit in coupling these two laws of Moses together.  In terms of how we are to conduct ourselves in His Church, we're to couple these two things together in our own conduct:  that we first love God with all our mind, soul, heart, and strength.  There is no place in us exempt from this devotion, this love of God we're asked for.  But that is extended also to the love of neighbor as oneself -- we're not to be endlessly disputing who is greater.  Instead we have a deeply loving relationship to God that will claim everything within ourselves, and within that depth we know that others are in the same category, that we are all equally called to that love and share in this endeavor.  It's there we find ourselves, and it's in that place that genuine love will teach us who we are.  We are called to live our lives with that understanding, that we're all called to the same faith and to the love that faith asks of us.  Such a perspective gives us one in which we're blessed to help others along the way and to share in the bounty of that love God calls us to in the first place.  Clearly the scribe in today's reading comes to understand Christ and to recognize His teaching.  Thus, Jesus tells him, in a sense welcoming him to the life He offers:  "You are not far from the kingdom of God."

 

 

 

If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!

 

 "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

"The lamp of the body is the eye.  If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light.  But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.  If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!  

"No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve God and mammon."

 

- Matthew 6:19-24 

 

We are reading through the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5 - 7).  In yesterday's reading, Jesus taught about prayer:   "And when you pray, do not use vain repetitions as the heathen do.  For they think that they will be heard for their many words.  Therefore do not be like them.  For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him.  In this manner, therefore, pray:  Our Father in heaven, hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread. And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.  And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.  For Yours is the kingdom and the power and  the glory forever.  Amen.  For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.  But if you do not forgive men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses." 

 "Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal.  For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also."  My study Bible comments that by attaching themselves to treasures on earth, people cut themselves off from heavenly treasures.  One becomes a slave to earthly things, rather than free in Christ.  This is also a part of the cultivation of dispassion, detachment.  It notes that the heart of discipleship is in disentangling ourselves from the chains earthly things would place upon us, and attaching ourselves to God, who is the true treasure.

"The lamp of the body is the eye.  If therefore your eye is good, your whole body will be full of light.  But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.  If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!"  My study Bible explains that the mind (in Greek, nous, the root of words like "noetic" in English; metanoia in Greek) is the spiritual eye of the soul.  It illuminates the inner person, and governs the will.  To keep one's mind wholesome and pure is fundamental to Christian life.  

"No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other.  You cannot serve God and mammon."  As a slave who serve two masters, people try to keep an attachment both to earthly and heavenly things (note the keyword "attachment").  But this kind of slavish attachment to both earthly and heavenly things is impossible -- both demand full allegiance, my study Bible tells us.  Jesus calls mammon ("riches") a master not because wealth is evil by nature, but because of the control it has over people.  

What is mammon exactly?  Some translate this word as "riches."  Others suggest "treasure."   When these Gospels were written in Greek, apparently their authors did not feel there was a sufficient Greek word that captured it exactly and so we're given mammon.  Here and in Luke 16:13, Jesus speaks of mammon in a personified way, and indicating opposition to God, so suggesting an evil force akin to a god or the demonic.  Originally it seems have been a Chaldean word that indicates "what is trusted in."  So taken altogether, it seems that the point of Christ's juxtaposition of God and mammon here is teaching us about valuing the material, or what we "treasure up," as if we rely on it to save us and fulfill all the needs we have.  This is by nature, effectively, something that is opposed to God, as it is God who not only truly saves us, but God who asks for our primary dependence and loyalty.  Elsewhere, in the parable of the Sower (Matthew 13:1-23) -- Christ's foundational parable for His gospel mission -- Jesus speaks of the "deceitfulness of riches" as that which is symbolized in the thorns that choke the word of God in human beings.  That "deceitfulness of riches" gives us another key to Christ's view of the character of mammon, akin to one we think is a friend, but who betrays us.  This is the sum total of the effect of trusting in mammon, and Jesus' warning takes on a greater weight as He speaks of needing to choose whom we serve.  Whether or not we'd like to say we're capable of choosing both or of loving or serving more than one thing at once, Christ's words are true -- this is the way that life works.  It is the foundation of creation itself; we seek Creator first to set all things in order.  To choose to serve the "creature" or even something man-made like material treasure is to be out of balance, confused.  In a sense it is the blind leading the blind; or, in this case, something with no capacity for understanding leading us altogether, like the Israelites using a golden calf to worship God (Exodus 32).  Jesus begins today's reading by speaking about treasure and the heart.  Many interpretations suggest that this is about using one's wealth in an unselfish way, through charity.  But clearly the teaching on mammon asks us what we trust in, and to make a choice what we will serve first (and obviously, we may also serve God through acts of charity; see James 1:27).  The single-mindedness Christ asks us for is embodied in His use of the eye as metaphor.  Our focus must take in the light of God to guide us, leaving out the darkness that would fill us with its own bad effects.  The nature of the mind is one that does not compartmentalize efficiently or well, and certainly not for a lifetime; our own self-contradictions if not resolved will result in a darkness indeed.  Jesus says, " If therefore the light that is in you is darkness, how great is that darkness!"   He warns us about a kind of darkness that is like a black hole; it simply keeps absorbing whatever there is into its darkness.  Christ always portrays human beings as those who are on a path somewhere, and so we must carefully choose what we follow, what ultimate guides us, where our loyalty lies.  A truly materialistically-minded person may choose to believe that we are simply a bag of cells, components of matter, and so a kind of neutral -- even stagnant -- entity which outside forces can't much change.  But this kind of trust in matter alone is deceitful and blinding, for life and the forces around us are persuasive indeed, especially when we're not really paying attention and not making a clear choice.  Christ emphasizes over and over again the importance of our focus, and here indicates the stark choice of what we serve first -- for this choice will come up over and over again in our lives.  Let us consider where our heart is, and where our eye (our mind) is focused. In the Greek text, the word rendered "good" (in if therefore your eye is good) can literally be translated as "single" or "simple," but that word is used in the Gospels to mean "pure" or "unadulterated."  If we take these meanings altogether, we have an admonition regarding how we look out at the world, and what kind of things block not only our vision but the light that illuminates our minds, bodies, and souls.  Jesus speaks of a wholistic life, and the importance of our own clarity and direction. 

Which is the first commandment of all?

 

 Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, "Which is the first commandment of all?"  Jesus answered him, "The first of all the commandments is:  'Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one.  And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.'  This is the first commandment.  And the second, like it, is this:  'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'  There is no other commandment greater than these."  So the scribe said to Him, "Well said, Teacher.  You have spoken the truth, for there is one God, and there is no other but He.  And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices."  Now when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, He said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God."  But after that no one dared question Him.

 

- Mark 12:28–34 

 

Yesterday we read that the chief priests, scribes, and elders sent to Jesus some of the Pharisees and the Herodians, to catch Him in His words.  When they had come, they said to Him, "Teacher, we know that You are true, and care about no one; for You do not regard the person of men, but teach the way of God in truth.  Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not?  Shall we pay, or shall we not pay?"  But He, knowing their hypocrisy, said to them, "Why do you test Me?  Bring Me a denarius that I may see it."  So they brought it.  And He said to them, "Whose image and inscription is this?"  They said to Him, "Caesar's."  And Jesus answered and said to them, "Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar's, and to God the things that are God's."  And they marveled at Him.  Then some Sadducees, who say there is no resurrection, came to Him; and they asked Him, saying:  "Teacher, Moses wrote to us that if a man's brother dies, and leaves his wife behind, and leaves no children, his brother should take his wife and raise up offspring for his brother.  Now there were seven brothers.  The first took a wife; and dying, he left no offspring.  And the second took her, and he died; nor did he leave any offspring.  And the third likewise.  So the seven had her and left no offspring.  Last of all the woman died also.  Therefore, in the resurrection, when they rise, whose wife will she be?  For all seven had her as wife."  Jesus answered and said to them, "Are you not therefore mistaken, because you do not know the Scriptures nor the power of God?  For when they rise from the dead, they neither marry nor are given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven.  But concerning the dead, that they rise, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the burning bush passage, how God spoke to him, saying, 'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob'?  He is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living.  You are therefore greatly mistaken."

 

 Then one of the scribes came, and having heard them reasoning together, perceiving that He had answered them well, asked Him, "Which is the first commandment of all?"  Jesus answered him, "The first of all the commandments is:  'Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one.  And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.'  This is the first commandment.  And the second, like it, is this:  'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.'  There is no other commandment greater than these."  So the scribe said to Him, "Well said, Teacher.  You have spoken the truth, for there is one God, and there is no other but He.  And to love Him with all the heart, with all the understanding, with all the soul, and with all the strength, and to love one's neighbor as oneself, is more than all the whole burnt offerings and sacrifices."  Now when Jesus saw that he answered wisely, He said to him, "You are not far from the kingdom of God."  But after that no one dared question Him.   In today's reading, one of the scribes comes to question Jesus, as he perceives that He had answered the Pharisees, Herodians, and Sadducees well (in yesterday's reading; see above).   In Jesus' response, He quotes Deuteronomy 6:4-5, which is the greatest Jewish confession of faith.  This is called the Shema' (which means "hear," the first word of the confession).  The second commandment He quotes is from Leviticus 19:18.  Thereby Jesus combines what is already present in the Old Testament to create a new understanding:  that the love of neighbor is an expression of the love of God.  Indeed, in Jesus' teaching, the two are not separable.  

 

 My study Bible comments that the second commandment expressed by Christ (from Leviticus 19:18) is frequently misinterpreted.  It says that it must be understood as written:  You shall love your neighbor as yourself; or more clearly, "as being yourself."  It is often misinterpreted to be understood as "You shall love your neighbor as you love yourself," which is not true to the force of the statement.  How much we love ourselves isn't the standard by which Christ calls us to love others.  My study Bible explains that we are called to love our neighbor as being of the same nature as we are ourselves -- as being created in God's image and likeness just as we are.   Moreover, if we look at the precise commandment, it leads us into an interesting perspective in its fullness:  "You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the Lord."  Its first impetus is a prohibition against vengeance, and against bearing grudges within community.  That is, it is foundational to Christ's injunction regarding the practice of mutual forgiveness.  In Monday's reading, Jesus spoke about the power of faith and prayer.  But when He spoke of prayer, He added this statement:  "And whenever you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him, that your Father in heaven may also forgive you your trespasses.  But if you do not forgive, neither will your Father in heaven forgive your trespasses."  There are many things that open up here for our understanding.  The first is that to love neighbor as oneself is to see an injury to neighbor as to oneself; these are commandments regarding community, after all.   The original commandment also sheds light on the meaning of forgiveness:  that it does not preclude justice or the normal understanding of appropriate conduct in the face of harmful behavior.  But it does preclude vengeance and the exercise of holding a grudge; it limits tit-for-tat harm or injury, and it gives us a context for Christ's teachings on forgiveness -- that we give up our "debts" or "trespasses" to God, first, because community comes from God and our love of God in the first place.  It helps us to more fully understand Christ's teachings on community, and the kind of community He wants His Church to be; that is, the community of His followers, those who belong to Him.  Moreover, to love neighbor as oneself suggests a kind of love that is like a good parent for a child:  it does not imply harmful overindulgence, a nurturing of selfishness or self-destructive behavior.  But rather it implies that whatever discipline is good for us and healthful on any level, this also applies to how we love others.  To love another is not to encourage nor tolerate bad behavior, but to nurture what we believe is good for ourselves and therefore for others.  It supports Christ's notion of mutual correction in the Church found in Matthew 18:15-35.  In that passage, Jesus also speaks famously of forgiveness,  telling Peter to forgive "seventy times seven."  But this teaching is couched in a means of correction, giving us a way to reconcile injury, while at the same time upholding the teachings in Leviticus 19:18 against vengeance and nursing a grudge.  In Christ's important combination of these two commandments, we come to understand that everything begins and ends with the love of God.  We turn to love of God in prayer to help us to reconcile our own sense of injury and the command to forgive; we seek God's love for us to teach us how we are to behave in community, in the world.  We "turn over" our debts to God the metaphorical central Banker, and we find how to conduct our lives free of vengeance and grudge-holding, in order to find our peace and by extension that of community.  Life is full of injury, because life is full of sin and selfishness.  But Christ asks us to find the best way to make our way through this world within the loving embrace of God and the teachings of God, not as frustrated individuals lost without community.  Christ's great emphasis is the centrality of God to our own identity and understanding of community.  Connecting it to Psalm 27, we might say, according to the Septuagint translation in my study Bible:  "For my father and my mother forsook me, but the Lord laid hold of me" (verse 10).  It is in keeping with the understanding that although sin or abuse may interfere with relations in this world, we can still find community in God, the good teachings that will see us through life.  This is the kind of community that Christ offers to us through His teachings.  They are not teachings of self-centeredness or selfishness, but they are teachings for health of self and in community, teachings of true self-love and therein true discipline, offering us what's good for us, like a truly good parent should.  Let us take to heart that Christ's way is both the way of truth and the way of peace:  these are so often hard to reconcile on human terms, but, as the psalm says, the Lord will care for us and teach us the way in our lives.  Everything begins and ends with the love of God, for it is God's kingdom in which we seek to dwell.

 

Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat

 And the Lord said, "Simon, Simon!  Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat.  But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren."  But he said to Him, "Lord, I am ready to go with You, both to prison and to death."  Then He said, "I tell you, Peter, the rooster shall not crow this day before you will deny three times that you know Me."

And He said to them, "When I sent you without money bag, knapsack, and sandals, did you lack anything?"  So they said, "Nothing."  Then He said to them, "But now, he who has a money bag, let him take it, and likewise a knapsack; and he who has no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one.  For I say to you that this which is written must still be accomplished in Me:  'And He was numbered with the transgressors.'  For the things concerning Me have an end."  So they said, "Lord, look, here are two swords."  And He said to them, "It is enough."

- Luke 22:31-38

Yesterday we read that, at the Last Supper, following Christ's institution of the Eucharist, there was also a dispute among the disciples, as to which of them should be considered the greatest.  And He said to them, "The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them, and those who exercise authority over them are called 'benefactors.'  But not so among you; on the contrary, he who is greatest among you, let him be as the younger, and he who governs as he who serves.  For who is greater, he who sits at the table, or he who serves?  Is it not he who sits at the table?  Yet I am among you as the One who serves.  But you are those who have continued with Me in My trials.  And I bestow upon you a kingdom, just as My Father bestowed one upon Me, that you may eat and drink at My table in My kingdom, and sit on thrones judging the twelve tribes of Israel."

And the Lord said, "Simon, Simon!  Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat.  But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren."   But he said to Him, "Lord, I am ready to go with You, both to prison and to death."  Then He said, "I tell you, Peter, the rooster shall not crow this day before you will deny three times that you know Me."  When Jesus says to Peter, "Satan has asked for you,"   you is plural, meaning all of the disciples.  When He tells him, "But I have prayed for you," you is singular, meaning that Jesus prays particularly for Simon Peter for just this purpose, to strengthen your brethren.  My study bible says that as Peter's faith was the strongest, he would be tested the most.  Strengthen your brethren is referring not only to the other disciples, but to all of the faithful until Christ's return.  In John 21:15-17 we may read the passage regarding Jesus' phrase, when you have returned to Me, and Christ's particular words to Peter at that time.

And He said to them, "When I sent you without money bag, knapsack, and sandals, did you lack anything?"  So they said, "Nothing."  Then He said to them, "But now, he who has a money bag, let him take it, and likewise a knapsack; and he who has no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one.  For I say to you that this which is written must still be accomplished in Me:  'And He was numbered with the transgressors.'  For the things concerning Me have an end."  So they said, "Lord, look, here are two swords."  And He said to them, "It is enough."    Christ gives a warning of the open hostility to come.  My study bible comments that the sword isn't to be understood literally (compare verses 49-51), but rather is a reference to the living word of God in the battle against sin (Ephesians 6:17; Hebrews 4:12).  St. Ambrose provides an additional meaning.  He writes that to give up one's garment and buy a sword refers to surrendering the body to the sword of martyrdom.  As the disciples are thinking literally of swords, Jesus ends the discussion with an abrupt, "It is enough!"  In modern parlance, we take it to mean "That's enough!" or "Enough of this!"  (see Deuteronomy 3:26; Mark 14:41).

Jesus speaks of times of both testing and hardship.  But in the discussion of the meaning of "sword" and the disciples' misunderstanding, we are given to understand that the testing is going to demand of them the strength and the "battle" of following the commandments of Christ, and not responding through conventional means to hostility.  We continue to live in this time, when our faith may be tested, and we are to understand discipleship on the same terms.  Our mission is to follow Christ's commandments, not to take matters into our own hands, with our own understanding of resources and retaliation.  My study bible refers us to Ephesians 6:17 and Hebrews 4:12, in which St. Paul tells us to "take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God," and reminds us that "the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart."  Our weapons have more to do with soul and spirit than merely battles of physical power and might.  They touch into human beings more deeply and work in different ways than military weaponry.  They also allow us discernment, and touch the heart of others.  For the heart and soul and mind and spirit are the realm of the kingdom of God, in whom we "live and move and have our being" and which dwells within us and among us.  We may not immediately understand the effects of words and teachings, nor the power of the Spirit at work among us and through the word of God, but over time it creates its effects.  One may observe the biblical examples of the fulfillment of prophecy:  some, such as Isaiah, were fulfilled centuries later, in the coming of Christ and the eventual spread of Christianity to the known world.  Christ's prophecy of the destruction the temple and the Siege of Jerusalem came a generation later, in 70 AD.  Each of these prophesies are made regarding the fulfillment of the effects of our rejection of the word of God.   In a positive sense, we can look back upon our own lives and the changes wrought in us by that word and the experience of a journey in faith.  That is the power of the Holy Spirit at work in us.  We may not see such effects immediately; everything takes time to manifest.  But we can be certain that this power is at work in us and in our world.  And we note that my study bible remarks that because Peter's faith was the strongest, he would be tested the most.  This is the reality of a spiritual struggle, and what is called "spiritual warfare" in our world.  Jesus tells Peter, "Simon, Simon!  Indeed, Satan has asked for you, that he may sift you as wheat.  But I have prayed for you, that your faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren."  Let's note the different things we're taught here from His words:  Satan has asked for all the disciples, that he may sift them as wheat, to crush and destroy them.  But in this battle Jesus takes up the weapon of prayer, which He uses to strengthen the faith of Peter, so that in turn when Peter returns to Christ he may strengthen the disciples.  This is the battle and the battleground.  We will be faced with struggles, temptations, hardships, even hostility when we seek to live our faith.  But our weapons are primarily those of prayer and faith, and the word of God.  See St. Paul's list of spiritual weaponry, what he calls the "whole armor of God,"  at Ephesians 6:10-17.  St. Paul reminds us that this is a battle over hearts and minds and souls and spirit, and the weaponry and our own conduct in this "war" must fit the conditions and the battlefield.  We must understand Christ, follow His commandments.   In this light we must consider especially His teachings on the use of power and greatness among His disciples in yesterday's reading, above, for these teachings are part and parcel of how we are to conduct ourselves in the midst of an ongoing war.  If words of war and weaponry frighten, or stir up a history of misuse and heresy and false images meant for cinema and superstitions, we should not let that deter us from understanding the spiritual truth of these teachings.   We are faced each day with easy temptation, to cut corners, to ignore the power of our own integrity and truth.  We're tempted to practice hypocrisy, to let slip a discipline in remembering God, to discount the impact on our own souls of worship practices and prayer, even to deny that our words mean something and have effects on others.  Our egos may be flattered by those whom we cannot trust, or we're taken in by social "rules" or habits to which we think we must conform.  Christ reminds us of the importance of each minute and our awareness of what we're really about, the significance of our choices, and what each moment can hold in terms of what is truly needful.  St. Paul tells us that the struggle is not "against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places."   As St. Peter would discover, we don't know what forms our temptations or difficulties will take; they are often subtle and surprising and work as a snare on our own ignorance and weakness.  We may only come to ourselves when we are overwhelmed by something quite bitter, and we feel "sifted as wheat."  Let us not be foolish or confused; what Christ offers us is redemption and meaning, and each new generation must find its own way to discernment and the wisdom that is offered.